Diye Wariebi: manager Bright Sparks Re-use Project

Everybody has a story. It’s nearly 10 years since Islington’s pioneering reuse and repair shop opened on Seven Sisters Road bringing new life to unwanted and broken items. Manager Diye Wariebi explains how the Bright Sparks concept has led to more re-use shops opening in Waltham Forest and Newham. From April there will also be Repair Cafes opening in Islington. Interview by Nicola Baird. Photos by Kimi Gill

People in Islington have always enjoyed finding a bargain, but Bright Sparks manager Diye Wariebi (known as Dee) reckons there’s a new appetite for sustainable, cheaper living in part due to the conversation about the climate emergency – something Islington council declared in 2019.

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“We’re about to start repair cafes,” explains Diye as we chat at Riz Café next door to the original Bright Sparks on 172-182 Seven Sisters Road not far from Finsbury Park tube. “We launch in April and will run them at Finsbury Park community hub on the Andover estate. It will be a place to get bikes fixed, do sewing, mend small electricals, repair furniture and upcycle,” explains Diye. “Volunteers will help you do it, and if you can’t repair something, then you can maybe donate it to Bright Sparks for the spare parts. Our strategy is low-impact living and low-cost living.” It’s definitely something Islington Faces will be joining.

Bright Sparks opened its doors on 21 June 2011 – inspired by an idea raised by Highbury West Green councillor, Katie Dawson. Initially it was fully funded by Islington Council. It’s basically a reuse and repair shop where items get a second chance of a home, rather than just being binned. But not only does it give locals the chance to buy good quality furniture and items like fridges (£45), cookers (£60) and kettles (£4) for bargain prices, it also helped offered apprenticeship and volunteer roles that gave locals new skills.

Right from the start Bright Sparks was popular because few of us learn woodworking skills at school anymore, so lots of people are clueless about how to repair broken items. “The easiest thing to fix is probably a broken chair. It’s not difficult to use a strong glue,” says Diye reassuringly. He wants people to try repairing or find a new use for an item rather than throwing it out so is looking forward to the repair cafes getting going.

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Places Diye Wariebi likes in Islington   

• Le Rif café, 172-178 Seven Sisters Road, just next door is Moroccan. I usually have their spinach and vegetable tagine because I’m trying to eat less meat. I also get hot chocolate and orange polenta cake from Girasole, the Italian café at 150 Seven Sisters Road.
• I like cycling from Highbury through to Hornsey Road, come off Holloway road on to Jackson Road, then left on to Annette Road That stretch on Annette Road, is  really nice, rather like cycling in Berlin which I know well as my wife’s best friend lives there.
• At the weekend I tend to cycle up hills. I like the sprint up from the Finsbury Park gate to Manor House you really feel the burn.
• I’ve got five bikes for different occasions – including a tank (vsf fahrradmanufaktur T-100) and my commuter bike (a 1981 Hetchins Keyhole) . There are two bicycle shops I like, Velorution on 123 Essex Road which still has Roger from when it was Mosquito Cycles and Finsbury Cycles, 185 Seven Sisters Road
• Our Andover Estate warehouse is 8,000sq ft under the flats and we know a lot of people. We have a lovely neighbour who brings her dog around, and the manager always has a dog treat for Lola. And when our van was broken into it was neighbour who called.
• We use the DIY shop on 214-216 Hornsey Road, Impromill. We’re there all the time.

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Growing
Diye has been running Bright Sparks since before the doors even opened to the public. Today he oversees 18 staff (half of whom used to be volunteers) and all the finance. Milestones include opportunities for “hundreds of volunteers and branches opening in Waltham Forest and Newham (operating in a partnership with L & Q Housing),” says Diye. Islington no longer offers any funding so for the past four years the shop has run as a social enterprise.  “It’s amazing how we’ve kept Bright Sparks going. The environmental emergency is a lot more prominent now, even my seven-year-old is having conversations about stopping deforestation, so I tell her about the shop promoting reuse and repairing and what I do in Liberia.”

Diye, 49, was born in Liberia. He came to England aged 11 years old and moved to London’s Plaistow in 1981. These days he still lives in Newham and most workings day he does the 40 minute-cycle ride to Bright Spark’s shop at 176 Seven Sisters Road, which is crammed with household furniture and white goods – and there’s usually a few people looking for bargains. If he’s not there, then you’ll probably find him at the warehouse on the Andover estate.

Diye’s background is engineering. He studied at Manchester University and completed a Masters in Civil Engineering. As a graduate Engineer, Diye worked on diverse projects including the Jubilee Line Extension.  He later attended the School for Social Entrepreneurs where he set up DigiBridge CIC the Social Enterprise that runs Bright Sparks. “I did Engineering because I always wanted to go back to Africa and rebuild public places,” he says. That’s why on his holidays you’ll find Diye in Liberia where he set up a school, and recently replaced the expensive and polluting generator with solar powered system and even set up a 6.5 acre farm to help feed the students and raise funds by selling the surplus. “Liberia is beautiful: every year I try to spend a month there, two weeks in September and two in the spring. My role is more strategic now, talking to the Ministry of Education and donors,” he explains but he’s made sure he has additional practical skills by using his free time in London to complete an Introduction to Permaculture at Social Landscapes a London-based permaculture enterprise, and taking the Horticultural Level 1 course at Organic Lea in Chingford.

Right now, as the weather is still unsettled and wintery, Diye’s focus is very much on Bright Sparks. “The most popular item is bedroom furniture – wardrobes, chest of drawers, chairs – single and pairs of chairs,” he says. “People also really want secondhand washing machines (£70), which we can also plumb in, for a fee.”

Buying secondhand electrical items is not possible unless they have had a PAT (portable appliance testing) test checking their electrical safety. But at Bright Sparks they make sure that they do this – creating what’s known as a closed loop reducing the amount of items going to landfill. This means someone in Islington can donate an unwanted, but still working electrical item to Bright Sparks. Bright Sparks will collect it and take to their warehouse. Here it will be safety tested and then put up for sale.  Over the years more than 1000 tons have moved to new homes and hundreds of volunteers have learnt more about repair, reuse and living lightly. It’s testament to the success of this project that it’s been copied at Waltham Forest and Newham. Congratulations to Diye and his team.

• Free furniture and reuse collections can be arranged/booked via brightsparksonline.com Or call the shop 020 7272 9156.
• Bright Sparks shop is at 176 Seven Sisters Road, Finsbury Park, N7 7PX. Here they sell secondhand furniture and household items (eg, white goods, small electricals, bric-a-brac and crockery). You can drop off small waste electrical items here (but not bulky items are accepted, even if donated) – so check out the website

Over to you
If you’d like to nominate someone to be interviewed who grew up, lives or works in Islington, or suggest yourself, please let me know, via nicolabaird dot green at gmail dot com. Thank you to Dorothy for suggesting this interview with Diye. If you enjoyed this post you might like to look at the A-Z  index, or search by interviewee’s roles or Meet Islingtonians to find friends, neighbours and inspiration. Thanks for stopping by. Nicola

 

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Nadine: What an inspirational guy! Our iron came from Bright Sparks!